The Common Gavel is one of the working tools of
the Entered Apprentice Mason. It is made use of by the Operative Mason to break off
the corners of the rough ashlar, and thus fit it the better for the builder's use, and is
therefore adopted as a symbol in Speculative Masonry, to admonish us of the duty of
divesting our hearts and consciences of the vices and superfluities of life, thereby
fitting our minds as living stones for that spiritual building, that house made not with
hands, eternal in the heavens. It borrows its name from its shape, being that of the
gable or gavel end of a house; and this word again comes from the German gipfel, a
summit, top, or peak -- the idea of a pointed extremity being common to all...
The true form of the gavel is that of the stonemason's hammer. It is to be
made with a cutting edge, that it may be used to break off the corners of rough stones, an
operation which could never be effected by the common hammer or mallet. The gavel
thus shaped will give, when looked at in front, the exact representation of the gavel
or gable end of a house, whence, as has been already said, the name is derived.
The gavel of the Master is also called a Hiram, because, like the
architect, it governs the Craft and keeps order in the Lodge, as he did in the Temple.The gavel pictured above is circa 1920 and was a common souvenir
item
bought by Masons when traveling to the Holy Land as tourists. The heads
are made from
the stone of King Solomon's Quarries and the handles are made of olive wood.

Officer
Station Gavels made from Rosewood

This is a beautiful
hand-made set of Masonic Officer Station Gavels. They are made of rosewood and
inlaid with ash depicting the symbols of each office... Worshipful Master,
Senior Warden and Junior Warden.

This is a working tool set from an English
Constitution. It includes the skirret, the pencil and the compasses.

The skirret is a measure—one that is to ensure the
foundation of a building is straight by laying down the string as a marker. It
is related, symbolically, to the 24-inch gauge and the plumb rule, but has a
specific connotation to the Third Degree. The main subject of the Third Degree
is one’s mortality and immortality. The skirret represents the foundation of the
way of life we are to follow as laid down to us by our Creator—keeping it on the
straight and narrow, so to speak, using our Masonic principles. The other two
tools of the degree follow naturally, and all three are interrelated. The pencil
bears a relationship to the All-Seeing Eye of the Second Degree closing
ceremony. But the pencil reminds us that not only does the Eye of the Almighty
observe whether (and how) we follow the conduct symbolised by the skirret, He
remembers what He observes. And the compasses symbolise what fate He has in
store for us at the final hour, according what he has recorded (symbolised by
the pencil) of our behaviour (symbolised by the skirret) throughout our
existence in this Earthly life, during which we are to work with the tools of
the other degrees and follow the principles of Freemasonry. Thus all three are
symbols of our belief in the Creator and of an individual Mason’s religious
faith.

We should allow the skirret, therefore, to remind us to start building our
character on a proper foundation—namely, the many virtues of behaviour found in
the Masonic ceremonies, and in the Holy Word of the Almighty. And we should
allow this tool to remind us why we should do so—the end of our life shall end
some day, and we should prepare now for what comes next.